Lakewood school monitor in tough situation

State Monitor Michael Azzara looks over paperwork during Lakewood Board of Education Meeting at Lakewood High School in May. <137>Wednesday May 7, 2014 Asbury Park. Robert Ward /Staff Photographer.<137>(Photo: Robert Ward/Asbury Park Press)

LAKEWOOD – Michael Azzara has balanced the books in some of the toughest school districts in New Jersey.

In his years as a state monitor, Azzara worked with school officials in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson to help turn around their dire financial situations. Most recently, the 60-year-old administrator worked with four superintendents in five years in Camden, trying to clean up the district’s muddled finances.

In late April, Azzara was tapped for a new mission: solving the problems within the Lakewood School District.

He was assigned by the state Department of Education to the district after a $5 million shortfall was discovered in the 2013-2014 school budget. Azzara now is tasked with turning around the district’s troubled finances, as well as finding a solution to the district’s ongoing multimillion-dollar transportation crisis brought on by the rapid growth of private school students.

As monitor, Azzara oversees the operation and fiscal management of school district facilities and all district staffing. He has the authority to hire, promote or terminate employees, and to override a superintendent’s action or a vote by the school board on any matter involving money.

Azzara has made his presence known in the township in a big way. First, he delayed a vote on the $151 million budget for five days so he could have time to review the spending plan. Then, during a May 13 public meeting, Azzara overruled the nine-member Board of Education when it voted not to adopt the district’s 2014-2015 budget.

“He is part of our team,’’ said Isaac Zlatkin, board president. “We are all working to tackle the issues facing the district.’’

Access denied

Requests to talk to Azzara, who lives in Evesham, Burlington County, were denied by the Department of Education. As policy, the department does not make district monitors available for interviews, said Mike Yaple, spokesman for the department. The state monitors are in place to implement state policy, similar to a judge, Yaple said.

The silence, though, leaves Azzara an inscrutable figure to the public. While he has overridden the board’s decisions in public, he has given no indication of how he will close the district’s fiscal gaps and still meet the educational needs of students. To save $4 million, for example, Azzara ended courtesy school busing for most students who live within 2.5 miles of their schools, a decision that led to a townshipwide parental protest. They clogged Lakewood streets for two days by driving children to school rather than let them take the buses.

During his career, Azzara has spent time overseeing finances in a variety of districts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, but has never spent any time teaching in the classroom.

Glenn Forney, director of the office of budget review and fiscal monitors for the state Department of Education, said Azzara’s lack of ties to the community made him the perfect choice to be a monitor in Lakewood.

“Everyone has accepted him better than I had hoped. There is a very good outlook for Lakewood. They can really turn things around,’’ Forney said.

Different problems

In Lakewood, Azzara will oversee a district that is smaller than Camden and offers many different challenges than the urban school district.

In Camden, Azzara oversaw the finances for a district that has 13,000 students in 32 schools. In Lakewood, Azzara is responsible for approximately 5,000 public school students in six buildings. However, the Lakewood district also provides transportation and special education services for more than 25,000 students, most of whom attend private Orthodox Jewish schools.

The financial issues in Camden were linked to mismanagement of funds, while in Lakewood the budget shortfall was triggered mostly by the growing private school population, the state-mandated 2 percent budget cap and the mismanagement of funds.

The FBI also has looked into the district’s spending habits. Last May, following an Asbury Park Press exposé, the FBI began its own investigation into the district’s finances. It delivered subpoenas to the district for spending records, invoices, school board minutes and other fiscal information, district officials have said. The FBI does not comment on the status of investigations.

As Lakewood continued its rapid growth over the last five years, the school district struggled to keep up with rising transportation costs and increased spending on special education for private school students. The school district has seen the number of bused private school students increase from 18,530 to 22,456 since the 2011-12 school year. During the same period, the number of public school students for which the district provides transportation has increased from 3,734 to 4,359.

The 2010 census reported Lakewood’s population made it the largest municipality in Ocean and Monmouth counties and the seventh largest in the state. According to projections, Lakewood’s population could grow from 92,000 in 2010 to 220,000 by 2030.

Pastor Glenn Wilson, founder of U.N.I.T.E. Lakewood, which stands for United Neighbors Improvements Today’s Equality, said the Azzara appointment has been positive.

After years of watching in frustration, Wilson and other leaders in the black and Hispanic communities, along with church leaders, parents and senior citizens, banded together in a historic coalition to stop rumored cuts to the public schools by the school board.

The group fears the nine-member board — dominated by Orthodox Jewish residents, most of whom send their children to private religious schools — might not have the same educational priorities as they do. Coalition members say they have united to protect the educational interests of the nearly 5,000 public school students. The group held a rally about two weeks after Azzara was appointed to the district, and 400 people attended to show their support of public education.

“We are happy to have him here,’’ Wilson said. “Anytime you have another set of eyes on something, it’s a good thing. There are going to be times when we agree with him, and there are going to be times that we don’t. I believe that it will provide a balance (and) that is what we are looking for.’’

Lakewood and Asbury Park are the only districts in Ocean and Monmouth counties that are under state monitoring. Including Lakewood, there are seven monitored districts in the state. There are four state-controlled school districts: Newark, Paterson, Jersey City and Camden.

Politically savvy

In early April, Azzara left Camden after Paymon Rouhanifard was appointed superintendent. At that time, the district was debating how to close a $75 million budget gap in its $360 million budget for the 2014-15 school year.

The budget gap was created by the dwindling enrollment and continued spending at past enrollment levels, state officials said.

When Azzara took over in Camden five years ago, the district was facing a budget shortfall of approximately $10 million, officials said. Since then, Azzara was able to close the shortfall and help the district balance subsequent budgets, Forney said.

Despite the budget gap that arose in Azzara’s final year, Forney considered his tenure in Camden a success.

“Mike has a good track record,’’ he said. “He was able to clean up their finances and get them back on their feet, which is why he was sent there.’’

During his time in the urban school district, Azzara was described as being “politically savvy” by Sean Brown, a former Camden Board of Education member.

“He has been through a bunch of different situations and understands how to survive,’’ said Brown, 31, who served on the board from 2010 through 2013. “He was like an uncle or the godfather.’’

Before Camden Board of Education meetings, Azzara would meet with board members to discuss concerns they had, so those issues would not come up during meetings, Brown said.

Azzara would limit his comments at meetings to moments when a board member or administrator asked him to comment on an issue.

The same has held true during his short tenure in Lakewood. So far, Azzara only comments when board members seek his opinion on an issue.

Gary Frazier, a 38-year-old Camden resident and leader of the Save Camden Schools, said Azzara’s relationship with the public was sometimes confrontational. Save Camden Schools is a more-than 300-member civic group that is fighting against the state’s plan to close public schools within the city.

“Mike was handed orders by Gov. (Chris) Christie and did what he needed to do,’’ Frazier said. “We butted heads on a variety of issues. He made it known that he was in control at all time.’’

Azzara is paid $96 an hour by the Lakewood district for his role as monitor, and there is no cap on how much he can make. Azzara’s appointment in Lakewood expires next April. During his final year in Camden, Azzara was paid $145,000.

“He was very quick-thinking,’’ Frazier said. “He was able to dance around anything. Mike was very good politically.’’

Nicholas Huba: 732-557-5617; nhuba@app.com

NAME: Michael Azzara

POSITION: State monitor appointed to oversee the Lakewood school district

EDUCATION:

Rutgers University, Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration

Kean University, Master of Arts in Educational Administration

PAST EXPERIENCE:

February 2009 to April 2014: State monitor for Camden City School District. During his tenure in the school district, Azzara helped overturn a $10 million budget shortfall.

July 2008 to February 2009: Business administrator for the Muhlenberg, Pennsylvania, School District. During his tenure, Azzara was responsible for developing the budget and the day-to-day fiscal operation of the school district.

October 2007 to July 2008: Finance consultant for the New Jersey Department of Education. During his tenure, Azzara helped establish the regulations to implement the School District Accountability Act and the School Funding Reform Act.

September 2000 to September 2002: Chief of fiscal efficiency for state-operated schools for the state Department of Education. Azzara worked with the superintendents in Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson to correct irregularities in their budgets.